


Trust

by tearis



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2020-08-13 17:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20178103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tearis/pseuds/tearis
Summary: After the snap, instead of being "dusted" out of existence, those that vanished are brought to a different dimension. Peter and Doc Strange run into each other early on and team up to try and find a way back. On the way Peter gets injured and Stephen needs to find a way to save him.





	1. Carya Ovata and what is that thing?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay long story short MCU timeline not very helpful in establishing years and ages, so going with 2016 Homecomign Peter is 15, so Infinity War in 2018.... I'm going with Peter being 17-ish give or take at the beginning of this story. *nods to self reassuringly ignoring the little spark of self doubt at back of my mind*

“Hey Dr Strange, fancy seeing you here.”

Stephen looked up seeing Peter hanging out of a tree, upside down, holding onto a drop line with one hand and waving with the other, before letting go of the line and letting himself drop, landing gracefully next to Stephen.

“So where do you think we are?” Stephen looked at Peter for a moment, before simply cocking his head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, as much a clue as myself then. Cool. Okay. Great. So was it – I mean,” Peter’s words were coming out slower and slower, his voice dropping to a mumble, “could you feel it too?”

“Feel what?” Stephen was closely inspecting the trees around them, not noticing the change in Peter’s demeanour, nor seeing how Peter watched him and sucked his lower lip into his mouth at Stephen’s response.

“Nothing, just like-” Peter left the sentence hanging there, realising that the older man wouldn’t react either way, too engrossed in taking in and analysing their surroundings.

“I think we are not on a different planet.” Stephen finally said, more to himself than Peter.

“And not dead right?” Peter quipped in. Stephen finally turned to him, an annoyed look on his face.

“No, Peter, we are not dead. Else how would we have this conversation?” Stephen sighed, shaking his head at Peter’s question, having missed the hint of panic in Peter’s voice. “If we were dead, we’d have ceased to exist. We are still alive, question is, where.” He turned away from Peter again, back to one of the trees, reaching out and peeling away some of the bark . Peter took a deep breath to calm himself, reassured they weren’t dead.

Peter nodded his head slowly, biting his lip in an attempt to keep quiet and not further annoy the magician? Was he a magician? Or were those the fake wannabes in Las Vegas that did tricks? That was probably a very rude description of their profession, so maybe not them, maybe the conmen doing “magic” tricks on the streets, distracting innocent, well naive, people, whilst their partner pick pocketed their wallets and watches. So if that was a magician and Harry Potter was a wizard. Warlock holds a negative connotation, doesn’t it? So, was it sorcerer? What had Dr Strange said to Thanos again? Master of the Mystic Arts. Peter snapped out of his thoughts, when he noticed Stephen intensely staring at the piece of bark in his hands, turning it over and over again. “Those are Shagbark Hickory trees.”

Stephen slowly looked over to him with a doubting expression on his face.

“No, they definitely are. Carya ovata, I think. They grow in Eastern United States and Canada. Their bark is shaggy thus their common name shagbark hickory. Leaves are 12-24inches long, pinnate, with most often five, but sometimes also three or seven leaflets. Their nuts are edible. They can live to be up to 350 years old and this looks like a wild forest, not grown by humans. You can tell by the structure and how, well, it doesn’t matter I suppose. But yeah definitely Shagbark Hickory trees.” Stephen had dropped the hand with the bark to his side during Peter’s little rant, eyebrows raised high. He was about to ask, when Peter beat him to it, “School project last year.” Pulling one shoulder up in a half shrug and giving the older man an apologetic smile.

Stephen nodded, before raising the hand holding the bark up again, “So, assuming that these are Shagbark Hickory trees, Carya Ovata, th-“

“No, they are. Definitely.”

Stephen slowly tilted his head to the side glaring at Peter for his rude interruption.

“Oh, sorry. I- ehm, I didn’t. S-sorry, Dr Strange.” Peter hung his head, tips of his ears burning red.

“As I was trying to say,” the older man continued, “if these really are Carya Ovata, then there might be a chance that we are still on earth. Or a parallel earth and if that is the case, then perhaps there is a way for us to get home.” Peter’s head snapped up at Stephen’s last words, mouth slightly agape.

“Really? You honestly think so?” Peter knew he sounded like a kid, but he couldn’t help it. He was terrified that he wouldn’t see his aunt again, Ned, Mr Stark- Mr Stark. Peter’s newfound enthusiasm dimmed somewhat at remembering how he had left, how scared he had been. He must have left Mr Stark really upset. Or maybe not, sure, this was Mr Stark, Tony Stark, surely he wouldn’t be too upset about him...would he? Peter looked up, finding Dr Strange watching him silently.

“What you said earlier about whether I felt it, too. What did you mean?” Stephen’s voice was calm but piercing. Peter’s eyes widened and he took a step back. He had thought the other man hadn’t paid attention.

“Oh, no nothing, just, well, ehm-“ He had hoped that Stephen’s attention would diminish and he would let him off the hook, but the sorcerer supreme was still solely focused on him, and Peter was growing uneasy with that undivided attention. He swallowed nervously and looked away, hoping that maybe not meeting those piercing eyes, would give him the opportunity to think of something other to say other than the truth, because the truth was too embarrassing, how he had felt it happen before it came, how his whole body had vibrated, how he had felt his body start to dissolve, hollowing himself out, crumbling away.

His eyes snapped back up to Stephen, when he noticed the man taking a step towards him. Stephen’s stern scrutinising glare had been replaced by one of concern and dawning understanding. He stopped at the look on Peter’s face and simply held a hand out to him. “Are you okay?”

Peter smiled at him shakily, “Yes, yeah, fine. Never better.” The smile dropped off his face as quickly as he had forced it there. The older man squinted at him for a moment, but decided against pushing the matter and instead gave him a lopsided smile, the concern never leaving his face.

“Can you- I mean, the sparkly circle thing, is that an option?” Peter asked, desperate to change the subject.

“It might be, but I am not sure if it is a good idea to start there. It could expose us to dangers. We are better off doing some more research first.” Stephen reasoned. Peter nodded a little deflated.

“On the plus side,” Peter’s head snapped back up, “we are not alone.” Stephen offered an encouraging smile, “We can figure this out together.” Peter nodded after a moment, a grateful smile lifting his lips.

Stephen stepped forward, clapping a hand on Peter’s shoulder for a second whilst passing him, “Come on. Let’s have a look around, see if we can find anything that looks out of place or that might give us a clue as to where we are.” Peter nodded, turning in the direction Stephen was headed, noting how the cloak on the older man's shoulders was curling in the air without any breeze in the forest.

Peter pointed out and named all the animals and vegetation they came across on their way, desperately trying to prove that they were indeed in their own universe.

“Oh, look wild strawberries. I never had any, they are supposed to be sweeter than the ones you get in stores.” Peter bent down and picked one and popped it into his mouth, before Stephen had a chance to stop him, hand still held out in warning, when Peter swallowed, commending how sweet and yet milder the strawberry tasted. Stephen looked at him exasperated, to which Peter flustered, “What? It was just a strawberry.”

“Well, even if it is an actual strawberry, which we cannot be sure of as of yet, ever thought of whatever may have passed it and in the process released itself on it?” Peter went from confused to disgusted in seconds.

“Eww,” spewing whatever remains and spit he had in his mouth out. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Stephen grinned, chuckling lightly, “I tried, but you were too busy stuffing dirty fruits into your mouth.”

Peter grimaced again, dry spitting to the floor a few times. When he looked up he saw the amused expression on Stephen’s face and straightened up, “Well, it was definitely a strawberry though.” He said petulantly.

"Sure it was." Stephen smiled.

“Look!” Peter pointed to a rabbit sized furry creature. Stephen narrowed his eyes at it, whilst Peter crouched down holding a hand out towards the small animal. “I’ve never seen one like this before. What is it?”

“Peter, maybe don’t get too close to it.” Peter turned around at Stephen’s concerned tone of voice, still crouching low.

“I’ve never seen one before either. I don’t think it is-“ Before Stephen could finish his sentence the animal, that had cautiously crept closer and closer to Peter, sniffed loudly, drawing Peter’s attention back to it. In the moment he turned around the animal hissed angrily and its soft fluffy black fur flattened down to a sleek silver shell, its tail sharpening to reveal a stinger, which it snapped forward stinging Peter in the thigh, before either male could react.

Peter cried out in pain, but his scream cut off almost immediately. Sparks flew past him, when Stephen sent a spell against the animal, which dodged the attack and ran into the thick undergrowth of the forest seeking shelter. Stephen was kneeling next to Peter in a flash.

“Are you okay? How bad is it?” Stephen immediately honed in on where Peter was grasping his thigh. Only looking up after a moment of silence, noticing how Peter was moving his lips but no sound was coming out. The panic on Peter’s face was striking and Stephen abandoned his attempt to get a look at the wound, in favour of grasping Peter’s shoulders with his hands, holding his eyes with his own.

“You’ll be fine, Peter. You'll be fine. Just take a deep breath." Peter took in a shaky breath, staring at Stephen with wide eyes. "And another."

The cloak reached up and gently brushed some hair from Peter's forehead, eliciting a surprised frown from Stephen and startling Peter out of his panic, looking at it in wonder.

_...to be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

In the end Stephen was left with no other choice but to use the portal ring in order to make sure he could mind to Peter’s injury. After some contemplation he opened a portal to the supply closet in the hospital. He motioned to Peter to follow him, only realizing belatedly that the younger man struggled to stand up never mind walk. He reached out and looped one of Peter’s arms over his shoulders, taking care to walk slowly and allow Peter to keep up.

  
“Stay here. I’ll check out – our surroundings.” Peter raised an eyebrow at Stephen’s choice of word.

  
“Yes, yes, I know, I chose this location, but still it is different. Things..” he trailed off, looking aside for a moment before continuing, “Things have changed. They must have. So better to be safe than sorry. Stay here.”

And without awaiting any further reaction from Peter, he quietly opened the door and slid out into the hallway.

  
Peter leaned against the back wall of the closet between the two ceiling high storage racks, careful not to put any weight on his injured leg. It was weird that nothing else hurt him. Doctor Strange had checked him over twice. Prodding him and poking him, squeezing, holding, pressing, yet the only spot where there was any pain was where the creature had stung him.

Whenever Stephen touched the spot, a blinding white pain shot through Peter and he had been glad even if just for a second that his voice was gone, as otherwise he would have howled loud enough for the whole forest to hear.

  
In the end Stephen had shook his head almost perplexed to himself, before meeting Peter’s eyes. The perplexity had not lasted long, determination taking its place on the older man’s features. Peter had blinked at him and next thing the wizard had done, what he had refused to do when they initially met in the forest, he had straightened up, turned around and after a moment of contemplation opened a portal, much to Peter’s joy. Despite having flown through them so many times during their fight against Thanos on Titan, it still filled him with awe and wonder.

  
He sighed to himself, if he hadn’t been so careless, they would have probably been able to figure this out by now, rather than ending up being a liability to Doctor Strange and for the other man to take all the risk of exploring a possibly very altered or perhaps completely different universe. Peter knocked his head back against the wall in frustration, only to find the impact softer than anticipated. He looked up finding the cloak of levitation hovering next to him, one corner cradling Peter’s head.

  
Peter straightened and pushed off the wall, opening his mouth in a tirade of words, yet none came out. He stepped closer to the cloak, only for searing pain to shoot through him at putting weight on his injured leg. If it hadn’t been for the cloak he would have ended up face first on the floor, instead, he was gently caught and pushed back straight, till he was balancing on his good leg again. The cloak was still holding two corners out in case Peter wobbled, but Peter had other thoughts. He wildly gestured at the cloak and even reached out for it, but it backed away slightly confused by Peter’s rather angry glare.

  
Peter tried again pointing at the cloak and at the door through which Stephen had left. The cloak followed Peter’s movement and turned to face the door, before turning back at Peter and shrugged at the slender man. Peter’s eyes widened in disbelief at the reaction and took a step towards the door himself, again to be caught by the cloak when he stumbled. He lightly and gratefully held on to the cloak with one hand, gesturing with the other to the door, looking imploringly at the cloak.

  
“I asked him to stay behind and mind you.” Stephen’s calm voice cut through the room, startling Peter into backing away. This time the pain that followed his rash action sent his hands flying down to his thigh grasping it in agony. The cloak once again kept him from hitting the hard hospital floor. When he blinked his eyes back open, he was met with Doctor Strange’s frowning face. He looked down seeing that the doctor had wrapped his own hands around Peter’s prying them off his own thigh.

  
“I think we need to risk the sanctum. Nothing here will help with whatever that beast injected you with.” Not waiting for Peter to agree or disagree with him, he held his hands out, opening a new portal, before reaching his arms under Peter’s legs and his upper back and lifting him up almost effortlessly. The cloak had reattached itself to Doctor Strange’s shoulders lifting them both through the portal.

  
The first sense that hit Peter was the smell. It was a dusty smell of age, but not just books, it seemed like age was seeping through every pore of this building. Age and wisdom and something Peter couldn’t put his finger on, but his senses were tingling for a moment before settling down. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with the after ebbs of his pain, he would have put an educated guess on magic, but instead he was just glad that his senses settled down quickly and allowed him to take deeper breaths to send some calming sense through his limbs. He didn’t even realise that he was almost dozing off, until Doctor Strange settled him on a bed.

  
“Try and stay awake. The suit will have to come off, so I can get a better look at the wound. Not knowing what that creature was is definitely a disadvantage, but the fastness with which it affected your voice, I don’t think we have time to go researching what it was. Best option is probably to try and suck the venom out. The tourniquet I applied in the forest earlier should have helped to limit its circulation through your body, so –“

  
Peter was flailing his arms, he had already been halfway out of his suit, when Doctor Strange came to the sucking the venom out part and was no longer on the same page as the doc. He crisscrossed his arms in front of his chest in a very vehement manor, shaking his head and mouthing “no” over and over again.

  
“Peter, I appreciate your concern, but between you and me, I am probably better equipped to make an informed guess and thus decision on this.”

  
Peter glared at the older man, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

  
“Now, stop wasting time, lay back and lets get this over with.”

  
Peter shook his head and pushed Stephen’s hands away, when they reached for his injured thigh. Stephen sighed in exasperation and was about to forcefully push Peter’s upper body down onto the mattress, when the younger man held his hands out in front of himself. He pointed at Doctor Strange, then his thigh, then made an impression of dying and then pointed at himself followed by a helpless shrug.

  
“Okay. Peter, last time I’m saying this, so listen: Stop wasting time. I won’t die from this and you won’t either. It’s an attempt, I cannot promise that it will work, but I need to try, so lay back.” Doctor Strange’s voice had turned deeper and grittier and Peter found himself inching back and leaning back onto his elbows. However, the doctor never leaned down once he looked at Peter’s inner thigh, but instead leaned back an eyebrow raised, turning to look at Peter again.

  
“Is that your doing?” Stephen asked with an abrupt gesture to Peter’s thigh. Peter looked down seeing that the wound that had been seeping with blood and some pale blue liquid, had scabbed over completely. Peter looked back up at Doctor Strange shaking his head negating the question.

  
“Great.” Stephen leaned back, frustration written clearly on his face. He knew he had to release the tourniquet sooner rather than later if he didn’t want to endanger Peter’s leg. He leaned back over the wound again and checked Peter’s leg up and down, front to back, to see if there was any obvious spreading of the poison visible, but there were no discoloured veins standing out, neither dark nor lighter, no rashes. He absentmindedly ran a hand over the base of Peter’s foot, looking up, when the younger man jerked his leg back, giving the doctor an apologetic smile for his response to the ticklish sensation. Stephen turned back to the leg with a huff and roll of his eyes. Before he could make a decision on whether or not to remove the scab and proceed regardless, the cloak zoomed into the room and shoved a book at him.

  
Stephen glanced down at the book and sighed, “I know but-“ only to be cut off by the cloak, who flipped to the last page in the book and pointed at a certain paragraph. After a moment of reading the section, Stephen looked up at the cloak in astonishment and with a sliver of hope. He reached for the necklace still hanging around his neck only to come to the harrowing realisation that the infinity stone that used to be home to the necklace was lost to Thanos. Peter could see the moment Stephen’s newly found hope shattered. He reached out and petted one of the doc’s hands that had sunk to the mattress in defeat. When the older man looked up at him he gave him a half crooked smile and a shrug as if to say, “it’ll be okay. Sure what can you do?”

  
Stephen shook his head in equal measures disappointed and frustrated, “If I had been a bit quicker than this might have helped.”

  
Stephen got up and in a determined gait strode out of the room, almost as an afterthought saying “bring him” to the cloak. And for the second time since losing his voice, Peter was glad that he had, as it meant that the undignified squeal that surely would have left him went unheard, when the cloak swooped under him energetically lifting him up in a swift motion and following Stephen, undeterred by the flailing of Peter’s arms.  
  
“Thankfully for us, it looks like this world doesn’t have a Sorcerer Supreme," Stephen said more to the books already spread out on a big table in front of him, when the cloak and Peter finally caught up to him.

  
Peter shook his head pointing a finger at Stephen with a big smile, when the cloak brushed past the doctor to put Peter down on the sofa in the room before flying back to Doctor Strange attaching itself dutifully to his shoulders.

  
“What?” Stephen asked, looking over at Peter, who pointed at him again with raised eyebrows.

  
“Me?” Stephen asked with a stony voice and face, to which Peter nodded smiling broadly, almost superior, and giving him a thumbs up in confirmation.

  
“No one likes a smart mouth, Peter.” Stephen’s voice was slightly grumpy, but also carried a tone of amusement in it, when he turned back to the books.

  
Peter couldn’t make out what the books were about from where he was resting on the sofa. The pain in his leg had subsided to a dull throb and he found his eyes sliding shut, trying to concentrate on something he blinked them open, staring up at the ceiling counting the wooden planks and patterns, trying to fight a yawn and failing.

  
“Affects from the poison or are you just tired?” Doctor Strange’s calm voice cut through the quiet of the room, making Peter look at him. After a moment of silence, Stephen finally turned to look at the younger man, the annoyed expression fading when he remembered that Peter had no voice.

  
Peter drew three Zs into the air, then tilted his head to the side and jutted his chin out a little pointing at Doctor Strange in question.

  
“No, I’m not – well, I’m used to not sleeping a lot.” Stephen answered dismissively.

  
Peter raised an enquiring eyebrow, which Stephen caught and being too polite not to answer, huffed slightly before responding to the unvoiced question, “Medicine students don’t sleep for about 11 years of their lives. It’s just work, work, work and well a little bit of partying too I suppose.”

  
At the mentioning of partying the cloak detached from Stephen’s shoulders and made some Saturday night moves sending Peter into soundless laughter.

  
“You’re hilarious.” Stephen deadpanned at the floating cloak, “and you” turning to Peter with a pointed finger, “don’t encourage it.”

  
Stephen turned back to the books but caught from the corner of his eye, Peter glancing at him before looking to the cloak and mirroring its dance moves, still lying down. Cloak twirled through the air in delight doing pirouettes before swooping over the sofa and coming to a halt in a “tada” motion front of Peter.

  
Peter had stopped laughing, but a big smile was spread all over his face belying the joy the interaction with the cloak had brought him. He looked up at it still floating in front of him and after a moment pointed at it and then spread his arms and mouthing “amazing”.

  
Cloak tilted a little as if flattered, perhaps even slightly embarrassed. Then a corner reached up and petted Peter’s head, just when Stephen spoke up in a gentle tone, “Get some sleep, Travolta.”

  
Peter glanced over but Stephen didn’t look up from the books spread out in front of him. Peter yawned again and turned on his side facing Stephen, who found him fast asleep the next time he glanced over at the younger man.

Tbc


	3. Spidey Sense

“And sleeping beauty awakes. Nice nap?” Peter looked over to where Stephen was still standing at the large desk. He must have been aslepe for a few hours, as there was no light coming in from the large window anymore. Instead the room was dipped into a gentle glow by globes floating through the air, except for the desk, where the globes were shinning brighter.

In the bright light, Peter could make out the dark circles under Stephen’s eyes and the slight shake of Stephen’s hand, which was hovering over a book for a second, before slamming it shut and shoving it up the desk away from him with a sound of frustration caught between a huff and a growl.

Peter hobbled over, realizing after a tentative step that he was able to put a little weight on his injured leg again. He hesitated touching the sorcerer’s shoulder, his eyes landing on a pen and notebook lying on the desk.

_I’m sorry._

“What? What are you sorry for?” Stephen snapped; annoyance and tiredness clear on his face.

_ For not listening and getting stung_

Stephen sighed deeply, his shoulders heaving and sinking, almost slouching. He glanced over at Peter and ran a hand over his face, finally turning to lean sideways against the table with one hip, looking at Peter, when he spoke next, “Don’t be. We all do it. It happens.”

Peter looked at him inquisitively, not buying it and worrying his bottom lip before dropping his gaze to the floor nodding almost imperceptivity, missing the exasperated look Stephen threw to the ceiling, before taking another deep breath and clasping a hand to Peter’s shoulder.

His voice more controlled and calm this time he guided the younger man out of the room, “Come on. We need to check if the poison is effecting or has started affecting anything else.”

Peter looked up and let Stephen lead him out of the room and to a big open room with loads of artefacts in glass cabinets. Stephen let go of Peter’s shoulder and stood in front of him, looking at him expectantly.

“Is there anything that your “spider” powers allow you to do that a normal person can’t do?”

Peter looked up a smile coming to him, before walking over to the closest wall and crawling up till he reached the ceiling and then hanging from his feet head down, basking in the arched eyebrow and slight lift of Stephen’s lips.

“Okay, so that one is still there. Good to know. Anything else?”

Peter dropped down from the ceiling, landing a few feet away from Stephen. Noting how his leg was not causing him as much pain as it had.

He tapped a finger against lips in thought, taking a step back and leaning back, not noticing Stephen’s alarmed expression. Peter belatedly tried to struggle, but was too caught off guard and confused by the rough manhandling and shove the sorcerer supreme bestowed on him, to get him behind himself.

Only when he was halfway behind Stephen, turning around to see what the sorcerer was now facing, did he notice the smoke streaming from the gold copper amphora he had been leaning against.

He watched in awe and terror how something black started to manifest from the smoke, red and gold sparks pulsating through the cloud and black mass. Only slowly did he realize the low murmuring of incantations coming from the sorcerer standing in front of him, shielding him from the magical being. Almost as if a switch was turned did the sparks diminish, the black shrink and the smoke slither back into the amphora.

A silent tense moment passed before Stephen let out the breath he’d been holding, turning to face Peter.

“You need to be more careful what you touch here.” Stephen frowned, the look on the younger man’s face, had changed from shock and awe to almost something akin to terror. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the danger was taken care of, before looking back but the look of unsettled fear was still clear on the younger man’s face. “Peter?”

Peter finally looked back from where he had unseeingly stared at the amphora at Doctor Strange.

“What’s wrong, Peter?” the concern in Doctor Strange’s voice seemed to have loosened the constraints of shock on Peter, as he started to wildly gesticulate from himself to the amphora to the older man.

“It’s fine, Peter. It’s taken care of and to be honest I should have warned you about not touching anything here, way sooner, so don’t worry about it.” Stephen tried to calm Peter down, but to no avail, Peter vehemently shook his head and kept pointing at himself; his chest and then his head. Stephen frowned for a moment, “How were you supposed to know something bad was happening or going to happen?”

Peter at last stilled and looked at Stephen with a forlorn almost heartbroken look of defeat. Arms that had been flying around the air, hanging loosely by his sides. Stephen cocked his head to the side in silent question to Peter, who just shook his head gently, before looking down, just to find scarred hands holding the notebook and pen into his line of vision. He glanced up at Stephen, but shook his head once more, before slowly walking back to the room they had come from; leaving the sorcerer back answerless and concerned.

_to be continued.._


	4. Spidey

It wasn’t the first time a sandwich and hot cup of tea appeared on the table next to him, almost out of thin air. The only evidence of its origin was the sight of Peter’s back leaving the room quietly. Stephen was not entirely convinced that it was just him being too deep in concentration that he only noticed Peter half the time. He was begrudgingly impressed at the sneaking abilities of the brunet.

He took a careful sip from the cup, surprised to find Peter had figured out he liked honey in his tea, without ever asking. He closed his eyes for a moment savouring the slight sweetness, before glancing up the table, noticing the pile of dismissed books at the end of the table being significantly smaller than the last time he looked up. He narrowed his eyes and with gentle steps walked over to the other door leading to the main library watching how Peter was scaling up the 15 foot bookshelf to put one of the books back into its slot. Stephen blinked slowly and pursed his lips in silent recognition.

Stephen went back to his books, but he couldn’t concentrate, his thoughts flicking back to Peter. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the help, but he was worried that the young man had almost become invisible. He wondered if he was avoiding him on purpose. He glanced aside to where he had left the empty cup and plate just a moment ago and found both had vanished into thin air, and took a determined breath, before stepping away from his desk.

\----

Peter startled more at the touch on his arm than he should have, and the movement at the door distracted him immediately from the sorcerer supreme, who was sitting down on the edge of the bed. His peaking heart rate slowed as soon as the cloak stopped still like a deer in headlight for a moment in the doorway, before lifting a corner as if waving before moving past the open door down the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Peter looked up at Stephen with wide eyes, offering a meek headshake and one shouldered shrug, dismissing the question.

“You okay?”

Stephen didn’t need a notebook to read the “really?!” from Peter’s face. It didn’t stop him from answering it with a raised eyebrow, challenging the attitude.

“Let me help you,” Stephen offered after a moment of silent stand-off, placing a pen and open notebook in front of Peter on the mattress.

_U already R. _

Patience was not necessarily one of Stephen’s most pronounced virtues, but he wasn’t going to give up so easily, “Common tell me what got you so upset.”

At the last word, Peter let go of the pencil as if offended or perhaps epiphany shaking him as to what was really eating at him. Stephen couldn’t tell which one, but whilst he was not the most patient person in the world, he sure was stubborn enough not to back down.

“I’m not leaving till you tell me.”

Peter picked the pencil up again, slowly flipping it forth and back, before hesitantly starting to doodle on the page. Stephen glanced up from the page to see Peter gnawing on his lower lip, eyes darting back down to the page, when he noticed the hard little strokes the initial doodling had turned into. Before Peter could change his mind about sharing, Stephen took the notepad and turned it around so he could read.

_I can’t lose spidey - not me without it _

“Spidey, hm?” Stephen hummed contemplatively, reaching out and running a hand through Peter’s unruly curls absentmindedly, eyes still staring at the words on the notepad, missing the surprise flitting over Peter’s face at the caress. Stephen glanced up from the page at Peter’s sigh, noticing the way he relaxed into the mattress, leaning his head into Stephen’s hand, which Stephen looked at confused. His eyebrows flickered up in surprise more at himself than anything else; apparently after all these years his bedside manners were finally starting to kick in. He didn’t pay any mind to how his hand, gently massaging Peter’s scalp now, wasn’t shaking as heavily as it had the last few days.

_To be continued_


End file.
